Exacttarget’s acquisition of CoTweet is a big development, but not a surprising one.

Some quick thoughts:

- I doubt that they’ll release the purchase price, but I’ll bet it is in the $10-$15M ballpark.  CoTweet probably left some value on the table, but – given their financing (only $1.1M, only a year or so ago) – this would still create a great return for investors and owners. 

- Big win for ExactTarget.  CoTweet is the de facto tool for big brands on Twitter.  Those that aren’t already ExactTarget customers will probably have a compelling reason to switch once the ET figures out how CT ties into their platform.

- This is a also a good deal for HootSuite, Seesmic, and other online conversation management clients because ET will probably phase out the free version of CoTweet.  (I still think that HootSuite is a mess, by the way.  Not sure how they can claim to be a “social media dashboard for professionals” if they’re trying to monetize with ads.)

- We think that this is the beginning of an avalanche.  Lots of marketing software companies are moving toward social…and most of the smart ones will choose to buy the capability instead of build it.

- We’re excited by the development.  A rising tide…

More thoughts as I think of ‘em.